William Edelen: Free of the Biblical God…

Blessed are the Atheists, Agnostics, Deists, Mystics, Humanists, Free Thinkers, Taoist, Buddhist and all others who do not have an archaic, primitive God in their mind/brains.

Blessed are they for they do not believe that a God is on their side.

Blessed are they for they do not participate in holy wars, Jihads or Crusades.

Blessed are they for they would never be martyrs for the “Glory of God.”

Blessed are they for they do not condemn others as heretics or infidels.

Blessed are they for they do not conduct inquisitions nor slaughter millions of women as “witches.”

Blessed are they who do not participate in sectarian violence, nor harass little Catholic school girls walking through their neighborhood.

Blessed are they who do not twist biblical words to condemn homosexuality as a sin, nor to condemn a woman’s right to choose.

Blessed are they who would never say that a terrorist act is God’s punishment against those who do not believe or think as they do.

Blessed are they who know that the only hell that exists is right here on earth created by man. And that it is in man’s hands alone to create a heaven here on earth through intelligence, empathy and love.

To clear the cobwebs of a Biblical God out of the human brain is no easy task. It means cleaning out all of the brainwashing, indoctrination, and ministerial cliches and giving your head, mind and spirit a fresh start. A book review of A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America brought out the fact that most of the essays were the usual cliche filled pablum like, you know, God gives us free will, and God was there, loving the survivors and all of that theological ministerial mush and gobble-de-gook. Only one essay got to the heart of the issue. An essay by Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong on “The Theistic God is Dead” calling for a new concept of something we call God.

The “God” being presented to us is a mish-mash of meaningless images. A God who loves the families left behind… a God who was on the last thoughts of the murderers as they drove their planes into the buildings… a God for America who now demands ‘justice’ and wants to help us bomb them back into the stone age.

“God Bless America” is a song that has been played, and still is, on almost every radio station ad nauseum.

Are you aware of the fact that the song is a prayer for only orthodox Jews and orthodox Christians? This nation has many, many millions of citizens that are neither Christians nor Jews and who do not believe that there is a God “out there” to “bless America.”

For writing like this I have been called an atheist. Few other words in religion are used so irresponsibly. Throughout history going back to the days of Athens and Rome until the present day, that word has been tossed at anyone who did not share the orthodox beliefs of the common man or woman about God, Gods, and Goddesses.

Those using the word as a derogatory charge always fantasize that they alone have the truth with a capitol “T”, and all other beliefs are false and atheistic.

So the Romans of the first three centuries called the members of the new Christian cult atheists. The Christians said no… you Romans are the atheists. The Hebrews called the Egyptians atheists, while the Egyptians called the Hebrews atheists with their false Gods. And so it went.

The ignorance of those who call others atheists is embarrassing to anyone with a sophomoric exposure to the history of religions.

Theodore Roosevelt was a religiously ignorant man. He kept calling Thomas Paine “that filthy little atheist.” Paine was not even remotely an atheist. In all his writings he celebrated Deism. Deists are not atheists as anyone with a religious I.Q. above 3 knows.

The centuries are sick with a God made in man’s image and imagination who shares the same nationalistic pride and arrogance whether it be the countries of Islam, or Israel or America.

My opening paragraph was “Blessed are the atheists, agnostics, deists, mystics and so forth.” There is no primitive God out there in any of these perspectives and yet many of them stand in awe before the incomprehensible mystery that saturates the entire cosmos even as do I.
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10 Comments

People tend to make god in their own images, and inasmuch as many folks do not like themselves, they imbue that god with all their own faults and evil as they perceive them. But assuming that there is no God because one is tired of others (and their own) idols strikes me as a bit of throwing out the baby with the bath water…thoughts?

I also note, William, that a great deal of good has also come out of “religious” folks and to make an idol out of deism while excoriating a strawman called organized religion is as silly as making deism the ultimate answer to life, the Universe, and everything…as all sentient beings know, the answer is “42.” grin

“God called them home.” This was said over and over again after Newtown by church leaders and the President. So in the mind of Religious peoples (Christians in this case), the slaughter of children was an act of God, Lanza being Gods instrument of death. Mass starvation, disease, natural disasters are always coined an “act of God”. I am glad that I am an atheist, I could never stand by and knowingly let a child be raped….but your god does. I could never knowingly let people die of starvation without at least trying to help….but your god does…Shall I go on?

There is no God, only a lot of people afraid of dying, and so they cling to the belief that if they have some kind of faith, they will find paradise in an afterlife….Remember what it was like before you were born? No? Why do you think it will be any different when you are dead?

“Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God”. Obviously this man has not seen God. If you only see the biblical god that the scriptures portrays by the “letter of the word” then you have not yet seen God. The letter kills and it is only the spirit that brings to life the words of scriptures. Jesus said “you search the scriptures, because in them you THINK you have eternal life, but they are that which speaks of me. Jesus is the scarlet thread that weaves itself through the whole of scripture and if the “Spirit of Truth” is not showing you that which speaks of Jesus, you might come to the same foolish conclusions that the writer of this article came. The “biblical god” of the letter is not God. When you do not see the living Most High God through His Son Christ Jesus, who is the light, then you remain in darkness trying to justify yourself through “dead works”. There is none righteous, no not one, unless and until you discover the righteousness that is alone in Christ Jesus, all else is “filthy rags” or as a menstrual cloth. A soul (woman) is not able to conceive seed (or the truth) during a menstrual cycle or as long as he/she is rejecting the egg that could be impregnated…Selah You are loved, Tom

“God” has been the cause of most of man’s miseries over the millenia. The ‘church of the moment’ has used ignorance and weakness to gain power, control and wealth to a few in the ‘priesthood’ by proclaiming that THEY were the only ones worthy to speak with god and receive instructions for the masses. Ball was a god, Ra was a god, the Christian god is the same one as the Muslim god, yet they war against each other. All support a leech class called priests, mullahs, preachers, etc.

The fear of a ‘hell’ keeps the poor in mind and spirit under the priest’s control. Tithe your last penny and be ‘blessed’. Your child died of starvation and disease because it was ‘god’s will’. I am not supposed to raise you up and share my wealth because it is against ‘god’s will’ to interfere in ‘his’ plan. It is ‘god’s will’ that we kill the heathen Jews/Muslims. God will protect us if we just have ‘faith’. We are suffering because our ‘faith’ is not good enough. And on and on.

I too was brainwashed by my parents as a child. In my mind, I questioned religion as I got more experienced and educated. Then I fell for the Mormon doctrine that seemed more logical only to eventually see behind the curtain there also when I had moved into a position in the church to do so. I saw that it was more of a corporation than a religion.

Ten years ago I dropped out, divorced to get away from the controls and to be free for the first time in my life. If you don’t understand that, then you do not understand Mormonism and what real freedom is. I don’t fear death. I know when it comes, I will not even know it. There will not be a tunnel of light or a pit of fire. There will just be nothing. If there is something, I know it will not be anything that any religion preaches and is not to be feared.

Looks like two to two, although I really can’t decide if ‘mkivel’ is being purposefully ambiguous or agnostic. I’m an anti-theist who thinks we should expose god think as unnecessary, counterproductive and wasteful. Act as if what you are doing to another, you are doing to yourself (BTW machoism and sadism are not the same thing). Tom, you need to look outside the bible for truths and other views. Dawkins, Harris, Allegro or Dennett are good people to start with. I love life and living just to see what happens next, but I try to enjoy the now too.

Thanks for the note, Gus! No, I’m not agnostic or trying to be ambiguous: I’m simply suggesting that when we heap human failings on God and use them to justify writing off God we’re failing to differentiate the idol(s) we construct and call god and God, or if you prefer, the Mystery. If you believe God to be unnecessary, counterproductive, and wasteful, perhaps a few examples are in order for purposes of discussion?

mkivel, anyone who is indoctrinated into a belief before they are mature enough to make their own decision is ‘abused’. Would we stand by while our government indoctrinated our kids from birth in the beliefs of Communism? Capitalism? Democracy? Or any other isms?

Well, for Westerners at least, I guess we ARE indoctrinated from birth by our governments … in the form of TV advertising. Just shows how NOT free we really are today. It takes a strong person to see behind the curtains and not run from the truth. We need more of them.

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I've observed that people tend to live at one of two extremes in the spectrum of life: those who live on the edge, and those who avoid the edge. Those who live on the edge are hanging out in the most dangerous and unstable places — yet they're also often the most powerful agents of change, because the edge is where change is happening; away from the edge, things are naturally unchanging. ~Thom Hartmann

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. ~Noam Chomsky

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Local Organic Family Farms

THE SMALL ORGANIC FARM greatly discomforts the corporate/ industrial mind because the small organic farm is one of the most relentlessly subversive forces on the planet. Over centuries both the communist and the capitalist systems have tried to destroy small farms because small farmers are a threat to the consolidation of absolute power.

Thomas Jefferson said he didn’t think we could have democracy unless at least 20% of the population was self-supporting on small farms so they were independent enough to be able to tell an oppressive government to stuff it.

It is very difficult to control people who can create products without purchasing inputs from the system, who can market their products directly thus avoiding the involvement of mercenary middlemen, who can butcher animals and preserve foods without reliance on industrial conglomerates, and who can’t be bullied because they can feed their own faces. ~Eliot Coleman